"The European Commission has accused Motorola Mobility of abusing its standard-essential patents against Apple in Germany. The Commission has sent a Statement of Objections to the company over a misuse of its GPRS patents, which has seen Motorola pursue injunctions against Apple products instead of properly licensing the technology."

Or, and this is more likely considering how this industry works, Motorola asked for cross-licensing patents with Apple, and Apple refused. Cross-licensing is normal in this industry, and since Apple refused, prices went up. The same happened with Apple/Nokia, which later got settled under pressure from Microsoft.

Apple didn't want to cross-license its patents, and as such, Motorola initiated a price hike. Seems very reasonable to me.

Any way you slice it, a large amount of Motorola's patent portfolio is effectively worthless from an injunction seeking POV. The only thing they'll really do if they keep dicking around is get Google into even more regulatory trouble.

Motorola should, and probably will end up taking a license from Microsoft. There's just no other recourse. They are not an effective defensive play, they certainly have no offensive patents, and are really the last major OEM hold out left.

Or, and this is more likely considering how this industry works, Motorola asked for cross-licensing patents with Apple, and Apple refused. Cross-licensing is normal in this industry, and since Apple refused, prices went up. The same happened with Apple/Nokia, which later got settled under pressure from Microsoft.

Apple didn't want to cross-license its patents, and as such, Motorola initiated a price hike. Seems very reasonable to me.

It appears that your dislike of Apple has completely corroded your moral, ethical and intellectual integrity.

No company is under any moral, ethical or legal compulsion or requirement to license it's intellectual property.

Motorola voluntarily offered it's IP to be the basis of an industry telecoms standard through a FRAND commitment and as a result it's IP was adopted across the industry via FRAND licenses.

When Motorola, now a division of Google, decided to refuse Apple a FRAND based license it was in breach of it's moral, ethical or legal commitments. If Motorola/Google did indeed demand a cross license to Apple's IP as the cost of issuing a license to FRAND encumbered IP then that was clearly and completely morally, ethically or legally wrong because it was seeking to use a FRAND patent as a lever in order to gain competitive advantage.

Apple are clearly and completely morally, ethically or legally in the right to request a standard FRAND license and refuse any demanded higher than usual payments or cross licensing.

The bankruptcy of your position on all this and it's staggering hypocrisy can be clearly illustrated by a simple thought experiment in which the roles are reversed. Imagine an alternative world in which Apple owned patents which it had offered for many years via a FRAND commitment and which as a result had become widely adopted and essential for the basic functioning of any modern handset. Then Google launches a new handset the sales of which take off like a rocket and Google asks Apple for a standard FRAND patent, but Apple refuses and demands that Google to give it a license to Google's core search and Adsense patents, presumably so that Apple could build a competing search engine. I find it hard to believe that you would come out in support of Apple in those circumstances.

Thom - principles are all well and good but if you rigorously profess them, particularly in public, you really have to stick to them.

When Motorola, now a division of Google, decided to refuse Apple a FRAND based license it was in breach of it's moral, ethical or legal commitments.

You really have no clue how this works. There is no such thing as a "FRAND-based license". Each and everyone of those licenses between these companies is individually agreed upon after hard negotiations, in which cross-licensing usually plays a huge role. The more you have to offer up for cross-license, the less you have to pay in cold hard cash.

You'll note that this system worked just fine... Until Apple decided it didn't want to cross-license. Motorola is under NO obligation WHATSOEVER to fulfil Apple's every demand. If Apple doesn't want to cross-license, than it has to pay more than other companies that do want to cross-license. How is this so hard to understand? Note that the courts did NOT condemn Motorola's demands... They condemned Motorola's subsequent suing over these patents.

Despite Apple not having been able to negotiate a license, it then proceeded to willingly infringe these known patents by stealing Motorola's technology and implementing it anyway. When Samsung steps on some crazy ridiculous super-obvious software patent, you call them criminals. When Apple willingly infringes cold and hard hardware patents without paying or having a license, Motorola is the criminal?